Ghosts 'n Goblins
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
Release Year: 1986
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The game 

Epoch of the drama: Dark Ages 
Places of the story: cemetery, forest, vaults, ghost town, caves, fire bridge, ice palace, demon castle 
The plot itself: a knight fights against evil 

Sounds scary, doesn't it? That's what it is. A demon has kidnapped the knight's, that is your, girl. So he gets startet to free her. The demon doesn't look at it deedlessly, but he sends all kinds of gloomy creatures towards himn: zombies, ghosts, demons and even shooting carnivores. 
 You need to fight yourself through four rather different levels, which are each devided into two parts. The passage from one part to the next is guarded by a weaker demon (death bird), which needs to be defeated with three hits. To get to a higher level, you need to defeat a strong demon (Ork or dragon), which guards the key to the door. At the end awaits you as a guard of the girl a big chinese dragon. 
 Further game elements are new weapons, that you find in your search, as well as the time limit (2:59 minutes) which needs to be kept in every level. If the knight is hit by an enemy, he will lose its armour. Now he is invulnerable for a few seconds, but then the next hit will kill him fully and the current part must be startet again. 

 Background 

In 1986 the rather popular machine Ghosts N Goblins appeared in the amusement arcades. In this game you controlled the knight Sir Arthur through seven sideways scrolling levels, which needed to be crossed by jumping and throwing weapons. The seven levels have the following topics: 
Level 1 : Graveyard / woods 
Level 2 : Ice towers / ghost town 
Level 3 : Cave 
Level 4 : Cave / fire bridge 
Level 5 - 6 : The castle of Lucifer 
Level 7 : Throne room 

In the same year the game was converted for the C64 by the company Elite, whereby Chris Butler was reponsible for the conversion. From the seven levels of the original only four are left on the C64 version, which is connected to the fact, that Elite - which had given the job for the conversion to Chris Butler - insisted on the precondition, that the game should be completely in the memory without having to reload from a media. 

So the first four levels of the arcade model were converted into the C64 version, in which the order of the third an fourth level was changed, as the cave was more adequate as a final level than the fire bridge, which was number four in the original. 

Chris Butler had the C64 well under control, which has been proofed by later games of him. The graphics is even today nice to look at and concerning the gameplay there is no weak spot to be found. The music was done by Mark Cooksey, who probably wrote one of the most popular pieces of music for the C64. The music is technically really great and brilliantly emphasises the game. 

Not for nothing is Ghosts 'N Goblins up till today one of the most popular C64 games. 

Three years later the successor "Ghouls 'N Ghosts" was converted for the C64, which unfortunately could not reach the great forerunner, although the machine version itself widely outranged the original. 

 Design 

2-D screen, fluent scrolling through the whole level. Very good animated sprites and music, which fits very well to the game. Elaborate graphics. Four rather different levels, which are each devided into two parts: cemetery, forest - ice palace, ghost town - clouds, fire bridge - underground labyrinth, demon castle. Each of the eight parts is several screens long, and some even a few screens high. 

 Controls 

in the game: 

 /  Joystick left/right = walk left/right 
 /  Joystick leftupwards/rightupwards = jump up and left/right 
 Joystick upwards = jump straight upwards / climb ladders 
 Joystick down = knee 
 Fire button = shoot 

Tips 

 In the clay jugs, that are carried by the zombies and other enemies, you can find extras such as bonus points in shape of moneybags or weapons. 
 The zombies, the carnivores, vampires, flying ice crystals, knights or pigs, as well as bats can be destroyed with each one shot, the death bird, giants or shooting pillar with at least three shots and the guard of the gate with at least five shots. Often, more shots are needed for the enemies with higher strength! 
 Watch out for the windows in the ghost town. 
 The weapons, that fly straight are the better ones, i.e. lance, knife and shield. The shield is the best weapon!

Alternate Titles

"Makaimura for WonderSwan" -- WonderSwan title
"Makai-mura" -- Japanese title
"Ghosts & Goblins" -- Alternate spelling
"Ghost 'N Goblins" -- NES European title

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Description from the packaging  (US) :

The beautiful princess is kidnapped. Her lover, the knight in shining armor, armed with five different weapons to fight the enemy, sets out to rescue the beautiful princess.
The knight, aided by your skill, must pass through four different guarded gates, fighting and destroying demons, dragons, giants, and zombies. There are hidden characters too! Some friends, some foes.
Ghosts'N Goblins is exciting...challenging you and the knight to rescue the princess, amid great danger, escaping Hades, land of the enemies.

Zombies waiting in the cemetery.
Weapons in the enemy's pot.
The Dragon at the third gate.
Giants guarding the area.
The Demon general Ikkaku waiting at the first gate.
Watch for flames that shoot up from the sea of fire.


http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Ghosts'n_Goblins
